In the Balkans, the tone for 2013 was set in December 2012, when the Empire-installed
regime in Belgrade pledged to break
Serbia in exchange for lording over its ruins. But the understanding of
Empire’s Balkans policy was much illuminated in late January, by longtime Balkans
observer James Jatras, who offered two
simple rules and a corollary. Not only have they explained events over the
previous two decades, but everything that has happened since.

Empire’s conduct has been clueless as well as callous. Even as Foggy Bottom
congratulated the "Kosovians" the fifth anniversary of their "independence"
in February, it sent a template congratulation to Belgrade on Serbia’s "national
day" – not realizing it was the anniversary of its 1804 rebellion against
the Ottomans. The parallel may have been lost on the Department of State, but
not on everyone.

As February gave way to March, the Empire was still convinced it could command
the tides. Even the 10th anniversary of the disastrous Iraq adventure
did not spark soul-searching. March 1999 was still counted as a victory, and
March 2004 was deep in the Memory Hole; the illusions
of triumph could persist a little longer.

Return to 1941

To truly conquer Serbia, the Empire needed Belgrade to declare that Imperial
aggression was in fact liberation, and accept the media construct of Serbs-as-Nazis-reborn
as actual truth. Yet a glance at history offered a disturbing understanding
of who actually
inherited Nazi policies.

The attempt to force an "agreement" between the quisling regime in
Belgrade and the "Kosovian government" in March resembled nothing
so much as the Tripartite Pact "negotiations" in March 1941. The Royal
Yugoslav government had agreed to the pact then, only to be overthrown two days
later. Yugoslavia was then invaded by Hitler and his allies.

This time, events unfolded in a different order: Serbia had already been invaded,
partitioned and occupied. The "agreement" was simply to be the last
nail in the coffin of those brave few that have resisted the occupation of Kosovo
for 14 years. For a moment, Belgrade’s unexpected
refusal looked like a wrench in the works; but it was only a ploy. Within
days, the quislings of Belgrade capitulated completely, consenting
to rape.

There was no rerun of March 27, 1941, either. The quislings’ power still appears
absolute. But pride goes before
the fall…

Summer of Discontent

A wave of
riots spread through Europe in late spring and early summer. Muslim immigrants
rampaged across Sweden. Turkish secularists opposed the government’s agenda
of Islamization. In Bosnia, the lawmakers found themselves besieged by angry
activists demanding a centralized ID database (?!) and using babies as props.

A common thread in all cases has been the increased cynicism of both the government
and the general population. Furthermore, both the media and the political establishment
misrepresented the causes and conduct of the protests – thus eroding what little
legitimacy they may have had left.

With governments routinely disregarding their own laws, it was only a matter
of time before their subjects decided being law-abiding was for fools. Enter
Edward Snowden.

The disillusioned NSA employee revealed urbi et orbi the extent of Empire’s
spying, not just on foreign governments – even "allies" – but on its
own citizens. Not just against American laws explicitly banning such things,
but against the very principles the United States were established on.
For that, the establishment denounced him as a traitor – while critics declared
him a hero. His passport revoked, Snowden found refuge in Russia.

The Crumbling Foundations

This was not the first time the foundations of Empire have been undermined
by its lawless
behavior. In March, EU mandarins decided to rob the Cypriot depositors in order
to bail out the banksters. This sent a message to all subjects of the EU – and
those aspiring to be annexed – that their property was not their own. Iceland
received it loud and clear, telling Brussels in September it was no longer interested
in joining. But Iceland was small and far away; when Ukraine did the same in
December, things got serious.

Another example of lawlessness came in July. After U.S. "democracy activists"
helped overthrow President Mubarak in 2011, a Muslim Brotherhood government
was elected. But as President Morsi showed no sign of willingness to serve the
Empire – having a jihadist agenda of his own – Washington backed a military
coup against his government. But by doing so, Washington trampled all over its
own propaganda about the sanctity of democracy – which in practice means
whatever the Empire wants it to mean.

The very same thing happened in November, when the sham "elections"
in the northern parts of occupied Kosovo were declared a success despite the
overwhelming
boycott of the population. Time and again, the Empire has sacrificed its
founding principles for the sake of fictions
and fantasies underlying its claim to global hegemony. Even the Bosnian
peace, an unlikely
achievement that has actually endured for 18 years and counting, has been
undermined and maligned the most by its very creators.

The Long Retreat

By the end of August, everything was set for yet
another evil little war, this time in Syria. Yet it was here, at last, that
efforts to defy reality finally hit the proverbial wall.

Whatever actually stopped the Empire’s planned march on Damascus – a deft
diplomatic trapdoor, a fleet off the Syrian shore, or something else altogether
– the credit for it rightly goes to Moscow. Vladimir Putin’s editorial in the
New York Times was a clear admonishment of those who believed themselves
above the law – or exempt
from it.

The powerful media delusion mechanism soon spun Putin’s admonishment as "insulting"
and countered it with John McCain’s clowning diatribe on a Communist newspaper’s
website. Thus the Empire and the EU walked right into another door in November,
when Brussels offered Ukraine a "deal" that would have bankrupted
the country.

Whether the EU was aiming to be deliberately insulting, or couldn’t afford
Ukraine even at a deep discount, was soon of no importance; the "revolution"
attempted by Empire-backed "activists", complete with celebrity endorsements
and State Department cookies , went
nowhere. Empire’s empty promises simply could not compete with Moscow’s
cash offer.

Bursting the Bubble

From Cyprus to Kiev, from Syria to Snowden, 2013 has been a year of revelations.
Time and again, reality
has burst the virtual bubble of the Atlantic Empire and the European Union
as the all-powerful, ever prosperous pinnacle of human political evolution.

Granted, that bubble still perseveres in the place where it was first conjured
into being. Washington is still romancing
the mobster lords of Kosovo, the jihadists of Bosnia, and the quislings of Belgrade.
But with every new revelation, fewer and fewer are impressed with the sorrow
and the pity of textbook
tyrannies.

To quote an adage commonly misattributed to Abraham Lincoln: You can fool some
of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but not
all of the people, all of the time.

201231546569 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2Fmalic%2F2013%2F12%2F26%2F2013-in-review%2FMoments+of+Revelation2013-12-27+06%3A00%3A26Nebojsa+Malichttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2F%3Fp%3D2012315465 to “Moments of Revelation”

A very good review and analysis, with one factual error: "John McCain’s clowning diatribe on a Communist newspaper’s website."
The paper that published Senator McCain's letter is not related to the original, I believe still extant in some format, Pravda, the official KP paper.
The Pravda that published Senator's letter is a tabloid, which explains Senator's piece being published.
I believe that the true Pravda (owned by the Communist Party) turned the Senator down.

I stand corrected. Though I suppose McCain was under the impression it was the old Pravda – and in his universe, it doesn't matter what is, but what he believes.
Pravda.ru has actually re-posted some of the Antiwar.com stuff over the years, so I would think they agreed to publish McCain as a joke that he wasn't in on.

one US = one constant, never-changing not only foreign policy but also home.
the home policy is never to allow the 'lower' classes to have a say who's is gonna run US nor how it is gonna be run.
end-goal of US foreign policy is about [in]directly possessing or controlling as much of the planet as possible.
kosovo was also a valuable piece of land fro EU/US and they took it. just like palestina, iraq, afghanistan..
kosovo is also mostly muslim. muslims, or, rather, ulema and 'nobility', in basics of it all, completely agree with the US top one or two classes: 'lower' classes not have a say in what goes on.

afaik, problem for serbia was in the fact that it was ruled from '45-'90 by the communist party and thereafter by a coalition of communists and fascists. it also seemed to be much pro-russian.
to make the situation even worse for serbs, there was that albanian kosovo and its disappeared autonomy.
this was ominous; however, serbs that mattered, hadn't espied the perils of their foreign policy.
germany, serbia, croatia ['92-'94] took on too much; so both the croatia and serbia lost chunks of bosnia. i hope forever!!

was invasion of iraq a failure? i suggest, the invasion was/sitll is a 'brilliant success;
provided, of course, the goal had been solely or mostly to render iraq more or much more dysfunctional than it had been under saddam.
like all evil empires, iraqi one had been held together by repression, iron rule, killings, jailings, etc.
this is what baathist were doing.
note, please, baathism is a kind of socialism. there is nothing US fears/hates more than socialism.
what this arab/EU/US ad hoc alliance had done in iraq, it would keep on doing that to palestina, syria, afghanistan, lebanon, somalia, sudan….

malic, like all liberals, progressives, D's, Rs, libertarians, independents, 99.9999% of all journalists i have read thus far forever plow and plow and never sow.
in short, stay only on anecdotal and symptomatic levels.
but the pay is good; so, WHY tell the dummies the FIRST CAUSE for ills that happen to us on interpersonal, interethnic levels???
and abe was right! i am not deceived!

the FIRST CAUSE for ills that happen to us on intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergender, inter-racial, interethnic, etc., levels is the DISCRIMINATION.
this leads to classism and to all basic life necessities being on and for sale.
can it get better than that for the top class and its servile 2nd class? no, it can't!!!

"Now that we know that Justin Raimondo and Nebojsa Malic are one and the same person"

Who it this "we" to whom you refer Mr. Kenny? I don't remember being informed of any such revelation by anyone but YOU and you alone.. If it is true, it will only serve to deepen my respect for his/their grasp of events and motives on a scale larger than the already vast one that Mr. Raimondo has singularly enlightened us with here…. I would say, if true it would not especially please me, but until the time I was to understand this issue thoroughly, I would not venture any judgments. So Mr. Kenny: Now that you have cast down that gauntlet as such, please direct me to some factual basis for your contentions, which you have in no way explained here…………..

its ok with me if Ds, Rs, independents, communists, socialists, libertarians, fascists would rule US if they'd allow or restore to me my birthright to eat what the top class eats!!!
add to that equal healthcare [even if ONLY TO ME] i'd surely lick also their boots!!!!
note AW? ready to shine gratis or even lick your boots.
this is not one-time offer. i'l let you think about this for a few decades.
you just might get it by then: votes are gotten thru people's stomachs?
no, no duck killing for me!! UGHH!!!!

NM: empire had been clueless and callous.
this being an over-generalization, i think only NM knows what he means by it [true, true, due to space allowed, scribes oft resort to cryptic utterances]
US, i think, was not clueless in the balkans. EU/US ad hoc alliance wanted independent kosovo, bosnia, montenegro, macedonia, croatia, and slovenia. yugoslavia had to go. the soyuz helped the ueber-nationalsits to wreck it.
alas, serbs [or those that matter] seem to make grievous errors time and time again [includes blaming everyone for own misdeeds and heavy errors] and thus keep losing all wars since '41!
i don't think that any yugoslav nation wanted to break the two yugoslavias more than serbs have.
most croatian communists did not want to break up yugoslavia in the nineties! [to this day they are cursed and deeply hated by at least 60% of croatian pop because of that],
once slovenia and croatia broke away there was no way to persuade bosnians to live in one country with serbia.
in fact, no republic wanted to live with the serbs!!!

bosnians thus faced two hells in '92: join serbia or undergo mass slaughter, expulsion. they chose the second option.
and about 70K of them perished while at least 500K were expelled.
and bosnia was not yet destroyed! i don't think croatia, EU/US would allow its dismemberment.

BB – your remarks are like the sticky, drying paint in a clogged brush. I've just finished painting a lot of furniture, which circumstance might help you appreciate the urgent relevance of my comparison.

The United States and Russia are still dancing . Russia is trying to swing to the right and returning more to their guns and religion . While the United States is trying to swing to the left and create a utopia that has always been proven unsustainable . The Russian ambassador stormed out a meeting in Serbia , because he could not find any Serbs there . A Russian visitor looked up at mount Rushmore in So Dak and asked where have the Americans gone ? We Russians believed you when you told us about freedom , liberty , free enterprise , and self determination . Where have all the Americans gone ? Did they with the Serbs ?

Did the Americans disappear with the Serbs . Russia just can't believe the Americans and the Serbs are really gone They refuse to stop looking for the Americans and the Serbs .Russians can't imagine the Americans and the Serbs are both falling for old socialist lie again

My computer keeps automatically erasing words I really mean the old Nazi socialist lie . Socialism is only the means used to take power. After the power is taken all kinds of bad ideas show up and nothing can be done about it accept another revolution . You might not believe that I'am a socialist myself . But I'am a very cautious socialists because i know you can kill a goose by trying to squeeze to many eggs out of her . I want my geese fat free and healthy . I'am sorry I'am to much like B B again

@ ES.
to me, it's not what socialism [or any ism, includes all religions] IS, but what it does!! it does or wants to allow all people to obtain/buy exact nutrition that, say, warren buffett buys/obtains!!
also socialism is not socialists. the latter can and often fail socialism.
also all original isms and religions i know of split asunder into many isms.
so, we can talk about socialisms, judaisms, catholicisms, supremacisms and the socialism, [personal] supremacism, etc.
even US can be deemed socialist!!!

wanting to eat nutritious food or what warren buffett eats is not a bad idea
call it communist if you like, but first allow all americans to buy/obtain it.
once it is tasted as well as healthcare that warren obtains/buys, what do you think would happen if warren-and-co wanted to take it away from the 'low' classes?

NYT abhores what i say. recall, journalists are elitist. i am not; thus, what i say, no site or paper would ever publish!
many sites do not allow me to even post. AW routinely deletes, holds [but seldom publishes] or blocks my posts!

Wrong! The US did NOT support the overthrow of Morsi. The US is aiding and abetting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere in the region. I applaud the brave Egyptians that have stood up against the Muslim Brotherhood and put it down.

This guy is promoting Putin's propaganda when it comes to Ukraine.
The EU offered a much better loan on a long-term basis than Putin did.
The IMF required a hryvnia devaluation, which would have sharply boosted exports.
It also required boosted gas prices as a means of reducing corruption in the economy.
The IMF doesn't give away free money to economic incompetents, like Yanukovych and Azarov.
By 2015, Yanukovych will have to give up Ukraine's gas pipeline or join the Eurasian Union.
As for James Jatras, he has received at least $100,000 from the authoritarian Party of Regions.
If Malic is so misleading on Ukraine, then I can only conclude that his musings about the former Yugoslavia are paid by Russian or Serbian interests, or they're simply the rantings of a very misguided person. It's telling that he lives in the U.S., and not in Serbia.

I am not about to defend Mr. Malic. He is capable of doing that by himself. I do want to take an issue with two of your contentions:

a, The proposition that a currency devaluation has salutary economic effects. There is no empirical evidence of that being the case. You can check this (among numerous other brief studies): http://www.macroeconomics.lv/devaluation-exports-…
The author points out to the dubiousness of this strategy. The study is about Latvia, a country that is beholden to EU and by no means unbiased when it comes to Russia and its sphere of influence.

b, Regarding the IMF, as someone who has some inside knowledge of the workings of the IMF, World Bank, and other similar institutions, I would like you to name one – I repeat: one – country that has benefited from the IMF and World Bank, policies, dictates, and "largesse." The only constituency that benefits from those institutions are their somewhat inept and considerably overcompensated employees.

British playwright Francis Warner said:
"What is democracy but a name that those in power give to the status quo."
Any party that wins the elections will insist it was "free and fair."
Any elections that are not challenged by enough riots and mob in the streets
are rubber-stamped as "free and fair." Yanukovich of Ukraine came to power
through what was certified as "free and fair" elections. The West, however, is
itching to get him out.
One really doesn't need to be an Einstein to manipulate the gullible masses to
"freely and fairly" elect those that will lead them to a ruin.
Freely elected governments are neither infallible nor necessarily good for those
that elected them.

with EU It would be flow of Honey and Cookies..like in Bulgaria or Romania…with all that dirty industry flow in to Danube. Unfortunately some people think than can play with nukes ! Would you like to see 100 000 people from Donjeck in Kiev..or you just hoping ?

I know the truth about Yugoslavia and Malic's musings are correct on Yugoslavia . So I assume Putin and Malic would again be right in line on the Ukraine . If you think Yanukovych should go with the E U you probably believe Hitler and Germany were right in 1940 when they destroyed Yugoslavia . Just like you and NATO seem to believe destroying Yugoslavia this time was another great accomplishment . I see little difference in the international socialists of today and the national socialists of yesterday .

I've never lived in Serbia, though. And Jatras was quoted in relation to Serbia, not Ukraine. In any case, "authoritarian" is an empty Newspeak buzzword. You'll have to do better than that.
Now, why don't you explain to us, obviously economically ignorant as we are, how 600 million is greater han 15 billion, and devaluation and high gas prices are good for the economy? Seriously, what planet do you live on?

ES, I can't remove any comments here (if I could, don't you think I'd have done with the obvious trolls?).
I don't know whether the US was behind Morsi's ouster; it is nonetheless a fact that Washington has backed the military coup (by redefining it as something else, so the military and other payments to Cairo could continue uninterrupted). From a standpoint of advocating non-interference, it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference on whose side one is interfering.
I do find it morbidly fascinating that the Empire is trying to play "good jihadist/bad jihadist" solely on the basis of which jihadists happen to align with its agenda at any given time (e.g. OBL and the Taliban were "good guys" in the 1980s Afghanistan, but "axis of evil" in the 2000s Afghanistan, depending on where they pointed their suicide bombers).

Latvia a Baltic country beholden to the E U . I wonder if they didn't feel very beholden to the national socialists too at one time . Maybe devaluation might not hurt young employed people as much as older people trying to live off their savings accounts Devaluation of a currency is much like robbery and you don't think with your inside knowledge there is much empirical evidence of this being very harmful ?

B B You cant really tell very quickly what a isim is doing .National socialists tell me they had it good in fact very good . Governments always use socialism and more socialism to gain more and more power .Once that power is gotten , than the government must balance the consumption with the production . B B you say you want to eat like warren Buffet . You never saved your money and invested like Warren Buffet . If you flew around the country and made money like you and I make and spent money like warren Buffet could . The consumption and production would get out of balance and eventually there would be consequences . In capitalism It is up to me to bring the production and consumption back in balance either I work more ,make more , work smarter or cut consumption . Under socialism its the governments job to regulate my consumption and my production any way they can . After the socialists have taken all the easy money they always seem to become brutal and totalitarian about the production . This has a tendency to discourage the workers and these guys drink more and more and work less and less . production goes down and consumption has to be balanced with production once the socialists have taken all the fat cats easy money. , the whip has to come out or the whole country will starve .

go to finland, germany, norway…and observe what their respective socialisms or egalitarianisms do for, say, just ALL children.
regarding feeding nutritiously all people, one could affirm that from what you KNOW, you are right in saying that that's not a human right. your welcome to your judgement.
from what i know, eating what buffett eats is one the most basic human rights!
for eons, say, 100k y ago, ALL people ate the same food, were all equally fed, taken care of, were needed, etc.
but in modern times, say, 10k y ago in sumer or akkad, people were robbed of their god-, or nature-given inheritance.
guess by who? by personal supremacists and discriminators; ie. clero-noble class!
the 'noble' class, the personal supremacists, ONLY write and ONLY interpret laws, own cia, fib, congress, army, w'h, judiciary, MSM, schooling, etc.
now you know why there is homelessness and enormous individual wealth. it all is achieved 'legally'.

i think that we need first of all the governance; ie, SYSTEM of rule and only thereafter elect governments.
it seems to me that a lot of people do not distinguish between the SYSTEM and govts.
govts, both socialist and asocialist come and go, but governance stays unchanged unless people change it.
in most european lands, the governance is an admixure of socialism and personal supremacism.
this means socialists nor supremacists get all they want.
it is like that in US; however, while, say, norway may be 60% socialist, in US the ratio appears to have been until lately 2% socialist and 98% asocialist or supremacistic! note please: antipodal to socialisms [any socialism] is asocialisms!
so, why do supremacists allow even that much socialism in US?
about this some other time, perhaps!?

http://original.antiwar.com/malic/2012/05/18/the-…
Sacks of purloined ballots, arbitrary counts, the EU congratulating Nikolic hours before the polls closed… The only way this was "free and fair" is if you subscribe to the Imperial "logic" of "if those who win do our bidding, they are democrats and the vote was democratic; if the other guys win, it's not a democracy and they are ultranationalist hardliners."

Know nothing about Dveri, but I have followed Kostunica, somewhat, and met him briefly. He was the politician of choice of the king-makers that brought to power Tadich and Nikolich. Arguably he did the most damage to Serbia of the three, for the reason that the Serbs trusted him most. He was clueless!

he didn't do the most damage because people trusted him. He did the most damage because he's lost in some rarefied world of theoretical academics. Plus, he's on the side (as are likely most of the posters here) of intransigent Serbian chauvinism and arrogance. Imagine – all he thinks needs to be done is pencil-in "Kosovo is Serbia" into the Serbian constitution and that's it done deal. we can all go home now. LOL

It's not very relevant now, though. he's got 7% of the vote (mostly coming from the diaspora). These chauvinist-nationalist parties are all splitting up into smaller and smaller faction that all hate each other. That's the funny thing about hateful ideologies – the ideologues promoting them end up hating each other more than anyone else.

"….He did the most damage because he's lost in some rarefied world of theoretical academics….."

But isn't that the whole point of this discussion: representative democracy is nothing but a rubber-stamped mob-rule? The mob elected him, without knowing who they elected, which is what I said in the first place.

You are dense, aren't you?
Why don't you read what I posted? If you believe in democracy you are stupid, and you are proving it with every post.
Leaders elected? I guess you see no contradiction in terms.
May be reminding you that all three: Hitler, Mussolini and Franco used the title of Leader (Fuehrer, Duce and Caudillo, respectively) might do something, but I doubt it!?

it seems to me that jesus had been put to death because he was or was deemed by sanhedrin [ruling body of judaism] an apostate from the judaism.
once pontius pilate realized that the conflict had been a religious one only, he washed his hands off the whole thing.
pilate also KNEW that sanhedrin did not oppose roman occupation of the judea; so, that must have played a role in pilate's decision to let sanhedrin kill jesus!
jesus' death may have also served as a warning to any judean who was planning to leave judaism for the new religion!

Malic lived in Bosnia which was part of Yugoslavia .like Serbia right next door was also part of Yugoslavia . The Serbs the largest ethnic group in Yugoslavia did not want to leave Yugoslavia . But Germany attacked Yugoslavia 3 times in the last century each time bombing the majority Serbs so the minorities could have more freedom and democracy .

Nebojsa Malic left his home in Bosnia after the Dayton Accords and currently resides in the United States. During the Bosnian War he had exposure to diplomatic and media affairs in Sarajevo. As a historian who specializes in international relations and the Balkans, Malic has written numerous essays on the Kosovo War, Bosnia, and Serbian politics. His exclusive column for Antiwar.com debuted in November 2000.